You Can Never Just Forget
by imgoingtocrash
Summary: ""Charles Carmichael" As soon as he hears the name, he knows he should run. He should run out of that room as fast as his legs will take him, and not look back. But he can't. He doesn't." Neal and Bryce are one and the same. When he encounters Carmichael Industries on a job while undercover, the mission changes, and he makes a choice about his current identity.


**Hello! So, I totally think a Chuck/White Collar crossover is an awesome idea, hence this fic's existence. I had no idea where this story was going when I started it, but after months of not working on it, I was suddenly inspired. I've never written in this style, but it seemed like a good fit, so I stuck with it, and enjoyed how it sounded.**

**Okay, important to plot info: White Collar universe is probably late Season 3, and Chuck universe is mid Season 5, basically when neither Morgan or Chuck has the Intersect.**

**Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Chuck or White Collar. They belong to USA and NBC respectively. I did make up the bad guy though, so that's cool, I guess.**

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"Charles Carmichael."

As soon as he hears the name, he knows he should run. He should run out of that room as fast as his legs will take him, and not look back. But he can't. He doesn't.

He instead stands there, inwardly wondering how much deep shit this will get him in.

_"Put the mission before your personal feelings."_ He tells himself.

But that depends on the mission.

Is it the mission in which he's Agent Larkin, parading around New York as his conman alias Neal Caffrey? Or would it be his mission as the temporary FBI consultant sneaking into an art thief's swanky party under the alias George Devore, art collector and forger extraordinaire?

He plays his part as the background character, watching them walk around as if it were exactly where they belonged.

They held their drinks and shook hands and mingled like rich socialites were prone to, also carefully casing the joint for anything their mission would require them to do.

They place down their drinks and head onto the dance floor with a few other couples.

Chuck's gotten better, he notices. Sarah's as good as ever.

The song is slow and simple, as is their dancing.

He hears her laugh. It stuns him, if only for a moment. It's not because it's been years since he's seen her. (Being 'dead' makes that a little difficult.) It's because he's never heard it so genuine, especially while on a mission.

He looks them both over, assessing the changes since the last time they'd seen each other.

Other than the change in hairstyle, he notices the gleaming jewel on Sarah's finger, thus leading to the matching one on Chuck's.

A playful _"Finally."_ goes through his head. He know's it's real, not just a cover. He briefly wonders how long it took to happen after he left.

He notices Chuck's less lanky, and his hair isn't making 'funny animal shapes' as he'd once heard Ellie refer to them many years before.

"Neal, is everything okay in there?"

Only then does he notice he's been glued to his spot, watching them interact.

He can't tell Peter that, no, everything isn't alright because his ex-CIA partner and ex-best friend are at this party on some kind of mission, possibly after the same thing he is, so he replies "Yeah, fine." into his watch.

"Have you made contact with Joseph Devons?"

Obviously, not letting his feelings get in the way didn't work too well.

"Not yet, but previous experience says he'll find me first."

Peter gives a noise of approval at his response and leaves him be for now.

He searches the room only to find his mark being chatted up by Chuck and Sarah.

They're definitely here for something Joseph has.

He leans his arm on the table behind them and listens.

"Are you interested, ?" Joseph says.

"I'd like to look it over personally. It's a rare piece, as you know. I can't just buy it without knowing it's not some fake you're charging me double for. I only buy the best for my wife." Chuck replies, giving Sarah a look of adoration, to which she shrugs as if flattered by the gesture of the art and smiles.

"Of course." Joseph hands Chuck a slip of paper and continues. "Give this password to my men at one of the exits of the room and they will escort you my, ah, business gallery."

Chuck and Joseph shake hands and disperse.

"Peter, we might have interference. Seems like I'm not the only buyer." He'll have the FBI take Chuck and Sarah in if he has to. It will ruin their mission, but he needs that painting without compromising himself.

"We'll prep the team just in case."

He pockets the paper from Chuck as they go to the security guard on the west side of the room, then tells the word to the security guard on the east.

He walks in silence as the guard leads him around a corner, only to find Chuck, Sarah, and their guard going to the same place.

The guards share a glance, and before he knows it, the world is black.

xx

Neal awakes in a dark room, in a chair, hands cuffed behind him.

He almost wants to scoff at how easily he can get out of these.

"Morning, Bryce." The voice comes from his right, and he discovers it's an also cuffed up Sarah. She's got quite the venom to her voice, and it seems Chuck is going with a pissed look over actually saying anything to him on his left.

He ponders who will kill him first. Sarah, Chuck, Peter, Beckman, or the guys who put them here.

Well, Chuck probably wouldn't kill him, just maim him expertly if the Intersect tells him how.

Joseph walks up to them, 5 imposing men accompanying him.

"It seems my latest piece is quite popular. Popular enough to merit 3 uninvited guests to my party. So here's where it gets interesting. You tell me who you work for and what you know, and you leave this world with a few less scars."

Joseph was a fan of the 'pick death or death' option, apparently.

He wonders how long it will be before Chuck breaks out the intersect and the 3 of them start beating down the baddies at hand. He's a little out of practice himself, as White Collar crime is a little less in their league, but with the training he's had, you can never just forget.

Joseph gives a chuckle at their silence. "Really? No takers? Alright then," he sighs, and quickly moves close to Sarah, bringing a knife to her cheek. "More fun for me."

The second a sliver of blood shows, all hell breaks loose, and he obviously knows they're wasting no time waiting for back-up.

He's already broken out of the cuffs, and obviously so have Chuck and Sarah. He seriously wonders how much they were underestimated.

Punches and kicks begin to fly, and the big security guys are suddenly looking pretty weak in comparison to 3 trained spies.

Yes, they have guns, but they aren't so useful when limbs are popping, and intricate flips and body movements are done in a beautiful harmony against them.

He doesn't realize he's grinning and thinking of how damn good that felt until it's wiped from his face in an instant from the sight of Peter's slack jaw and his equally surprised FBI squad escorting Jacob out.

How is he supposed to explain his way out of this one without blowing everything he's been doing for the past 4 years? Should he even trying covering it up at all?

He can't think of anything to say more than "Hey, Peter."

xx

"So, FBI, huh?" Sarah asks, seeing an opportunity.

Peter and Casey are in the conference room at the White Collar Division, and so far he hasn't come up with a good cover-up, and that puts Neal in danger. He quite liked this cover. Neal Caffrey had a pretty good life in New York.

"I know we'd always mocked them, being CIA and all, but this group…it's different." He wished more people in the FBI were as dedicated as Peter Burke and his people.

"Well, we're not exactly on the best terms with the CIA at the moment, but we're working on it, I suppose." Carmichael Industries was doing a job for Beckman, but not actually being CIA made this whole situation a little harder to handle.

"Maybe that's not such a bad thing. You, Chuck, and Casey working together…doesn't seem so horrible. Not much has changed there, except for the addition of Morgan, I guess."

She chuckles, and gives him one of those cryptic looks meaning he really has no idea how much has. He knows she has, at the least. He thinks maybe likes this Sarah Bartowski more than Sarah Walker. She's not a cover. She's a real person, full and hole, past or not.

"No, it's not so bad," She says, and smiles fondly at Morgan and Chuck talking to Jones and Diana. "…Chuck got it out, you know. You never wanted him to have the Intersect, and now he doesn't, and I'm not sure he'll ever get it back."

He's almost satisfied, but knows Sarah obviously isn't. "He doesn't need it. He never has."

Sarah nods and twists the ring on her finger around, content with his reply.

"What are you going to do now?" As she asks it, he truly doesn't know.

"I guess that's up to Beckman. Peter saw what happened back there. He's not the type to just let it go." Oh, yes, he was going to miss Neal Caffery and the little family he'd found for himself.

"Does it need to be up to her?" He looks up to see Chuck sitting next to Sarah. "You could, I don't know, help out Carmichael Industries. We could always use another good agent, with what we get into."

He's silent for a moment. Working with his best friend, people who know about his spy life, and all he's done for the CIA. It's almost too good to be true. He can't think of an answer before Casey walks up to him with an odd glare and directs him to speak to the General.

xx

"Agent Larkin, your work today was successful." Beckman says over the monitor.

_"Other than my cover of being dead and being a pacifist conman being blown, sure." _Wisps through his head, but instead he replies "We got what we needed, yes."

"Although the team of Carmichael Industries knows of your existence, you and I both know they can keep that under wraps." Of course they will. He can always count on Chuck, and he wished he could've told them he wasn't dead. It felt like betrayal after everything he'd done.

"And Agent Burke?"

"He knows only what I deemed he should, meaning," Beckman gave him a stern glance "your cover is still in tact. You're still Neal Caffery, and you have no association with the CIA. You know Charles Carmichael from a previous business venture, and they asked you to assist them and the CIA. We knew of your expertise, but didn't want to alert the FBI, so you were asked to formulate the plan without mention of it to your White Collar team. This conversation was me thanking you for your assistance."

He could live with that. For the fight, he could always attribute it to being cautious of violent situations, and taking advanced self defense. Peter would be suspicious, but would hopefully drop it in leu of Neal telling him something over nothing.

"Yes ma'am." He nodded and watched the screen dim to black.

xx

"It was good seeing you. Nice to know you weren't, you know, dead and all." Chuck says, grinning brightly while a car is being filled with their spy group. "Are you sure you don't want to go with us? I know you probably miss all the action."

He does, really, but he also thinks of the sorrow that occurred even thinking of loosing this life. He thinks of Peter, Elizabeth, Mozzie, June, Sara. "It's been good seeing you too Chuck, but I don't think so. This cover is fine right now. Neal Caffery isn't such a bad name, right?"

"No, not bad at all. Still fine with Bryce Larkin, however." They both grin and Neal shares quick goodbyes with everyone on the team as they leave.

"It's nice to meet more people from your past, especially such respectable ones with the government." Peter comments, walking next to him back to the office.

"Don't expect it to become a regular thing." Anyone else associated with Bryce Larkin coming around probably wouldn't be respectable.

"Well, come on. While we sort out the paperwork on this case, you can tell me all about Charles Carmichael."

"Oh, a story like his takes _years_ to tell…"

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**Hehe, get it? Years? Like a show..okay, I'll stop.**

**Thanks for reading! I'd love to know what you think!**


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